The Majorca Hoteliers Federation presented a report at London's World Travel Market which considered the impact of holiday rentals. It drew attention to exorbitant rents during the tourism season which led to more than 10,000 employees having to travel an average of 80 kilometres in all to work and back.
This situation will repeat itself in 2017, with the number of holiday rentals in resort areas continuing to increase. The federation's president, Inma Benito, said that Alcudia, Arta, Can Picafort, Capdepera, Playa de Muro and Pollensa have been the most affected. In some instances, hotels had to organise their own bus services for staff.
Strong demand for holiday rentals, says the federation, is meaning that tenants' contracts are not being renewed so that between May and September properties can be rented out at much higher prices. Benito stressed that tourism should create social value and not problems such as accommodation shortages for workers. The federation has therefore requested that the government introduces a plan of control that would involve the Tax Agency, land registry, island councils, town halls and the tourism ministry.
Benito added that the federation is not against holiday rentals but wants specific regulation to determine what accommodation is residential and what is for tourists. She urged the government to introduce legislation as quickly as possible (draft legislation had been expected last month).
The report also looked at the impact of tourism on social and economic progress in the Balearics. The federation believes that the tourism model currently creates a situation that is inefficient. There is no plan as such for what type of tourism future there should be. As for the tourist tax, this, according to the hoteliers, addresses existing weaknesses and not future challenges.
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There's no problem finding long-term accomodation in tourist areas, there's a sea of it. The problem is that non-skilled workers can't afford it on a pitiful income of less than 10k p.a. of course. While we're here, I'd like to see a ban on dogs in apartment blocks, it's the first thing a worker gets when he moves in for some unfathomable reason, then they go to work and leave the dog on it's own for 12 hours a day.
Hotel workers are not the only ones having trouble finding accommodation - it's a problem for anyone looking for long term rental accommodation, even at this time of year and even if you are looking for a year-round rental. Speak to any estate agent and they will tell you the same: they have no rental properties on their books because owners prefer to rent their properties short term for a great deal more. What is available long term exhorbitatnly expensive or so run down it would be a health hazard to live in. Airbnb maybe great for anyone with a spare room or a spare property to rent out but its creating a housing crisis for people who live in Mallorca, and not only for those who come for the summer season, but for those who live here year round
Workers living 80 Kilometres from work also happens in the UK. What about the people who commute to London every day. I live in a University town, and locals / workers cant get rental accommodation in the town due to student lets in term time and tourist lets during the summer. People shouldnt expect it to be a right that they get accommodation from there employer. I dont from mine, and I work [for minimum wage on a zero hour contract] in the tourism sector.
This is madness. Non-skilled semi-literate minimum-wage hotel "workers" should live well away from the resorts if not within the hotels. If they don't have a driving licence, get the bus. It's the same, as it should be, everywhere and it's called reality. Why should they expect to live in beach-front or resort-centre locations with swimming pools etc, in most cases with their yapping dogs, alongside normal property owners and visiting tourists.The opposite should actually apply, - tourist areas should be only for tourists.
Spare a thought for the youngsters who pay to companies promising a 'workers' package and a lifetime's experience working in Mallorca. They get poor accommodation, treated like dogs and the work does not exist. Sure they are naive but they do not deserve such treatment. I am still waiting for the action promised by my local council to stamp out this fraudulent practice.
Andy,There is a big difference between illegal and fraudalent. The headline is misleading. In actual fact is says that out of 9.000 contracts, 3.000 were found to be fraudalent, a term that can hide a multitude of sins, mainly red tape ones imposed by EU regulations which were not designed to deal with an economy like the one we have in the Balearics, with demand ebbing and flowing and with peak demands during certain times of the week.3.000 contracts is a drop in the ocean compared to the total amount of work contracts signed and sealed during the easter and summer season. Here, businesses have their hands tied behind their backs compared to more liberal economies like in the UK, when it comes to rules and regulations, and most employers try to get things right, something that is virtually impossible to do if some over fastidous burocrat wants to find something wrong.
The fact that a third of job contracts for seasonal workers are illegal (as reported in the MDB) is a bigger problem. These employers won't pay what they should and then blame everyone else when their workers cannot afford a roof over there heads!
I don´t think any of you understand the problem. Of course it happens in the cities mentioned, but their business year lasts nearly all year, therefore the people working in it receive 12 months salary, not 6 or 7 like here, making it virtually impossible for them to be granted a mortgage or sign a long term rental contract. Actually the population hasn´t boomed at all, many immigrants left due to the recession and haven´t returned. Lastly we are not talking villas or upmarket apartments here, we are talking run of the mill flats that could be rented for an affordable price. A lot of these have been taken off the market as thier proprietors would rather rent them for 2 or 3 months a year for a similar price per week that they were previuosly getting per month. This didn´t occur before internet came on the scene, so some solution must be found to get back to the status quo again.
Accommodation for hotel workers should be the responsibility of the hoteliers. Living in used to be the norm., but the greedy hoteliers have utilised every available room for tourists. And if they paid a living wage workers could afford to pay the going rate for a flat. They should do this with their annual increases. Don't blame the tourists or try and penalise those who rent out their apartments and villas to try and make ends meet. Another solution to make more accommodation available would be to force owners of the thousands of old wrecks - inherited properties that lie abandoned in the towns and villages - to reform and modernise making them available for renting. And I don't mean offering them tourist tax money or local grants to do this - as has been done in the past.!
I cannot believe how incredibly thick people are. 1) The rest of Europe are out of recession so tourists are here 2) Many are renting long term as they want a bolt hole abroad 3) There has been little construction since 2008 4) The islands population has boomed. Nothing to do with Holiday Rentals at all. Apartment rental will be the future.